I am very confused. I thought they broadcast only on ComCast before. Did they just trade one cable co for another? will they still broadcast on the internet?

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YES!!!

Universal Sports started out as a over the air sub-channel broadcast service for NBC and non-NBC tv stations..FCC must carry rules forced cable to add Universal Sports from local tv station to their line up..

Comcast Now owns NBC and Universal Studios and feels that it belongs only on cable and the internet where it can collect a fee ($$$)..

Universal Sports started out as a over the air sub-channel broadcast service for NBC and non-NBC tv stations..FCC must carry rules forced cable to add Universal Sports from local tv station to their line up..

Comcast Now owns NBC and Universal Studios and feels that it belongs only on cable and the internet where it can collect a fee ($$$)..

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But i read that it was going to Direct TV. His that different than having it on ComCast?

But i read that it was going to Direct TV. His that different than having it on ComCast?

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Many people who do not have cable or satellite services have been able to watch Universal on their over-the-air digital TV's for the last several years. If NBC was on 5.0, for example, Universal was often on 5.3. It sounds like that over-the-air option will no longer be available and you will need to have Comcast or DirectTV in order to watch Universal. I still haven't seen anything about DISH carrying Universal Sports at all.

Hope that helps.

I don't think I was aware that VS was also owned by NBC and will become NBC Sports in January. I think this change will affect figure skating and gymnastics viewers more than Olympics viewers. Universal Olympics coverage has mostly been high-light shows and commentary and I haven't seen any programming notes that will change that for London.

Maybe more people will have a chance to actually get Universal Sports now.

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Actually less people will be able to get it. Right now, if your NBC affiliate broadcasts it, you can get it no matter what your cable company does. My cable company doesn't offer it but I can get it over the air anyway. Now I won't be able to.

I assume they did this so they could make more money. They can charge the cable companies for carrying them. They couldn't charge anyone who was getting it over the air.

Oh, well. I guess I'd better make sure I catch some of the GP events cause after Jan no more Universal. I guess if you can't help fill some already wealthy execs wallet you don't get many of the channels. Some folks don't have the $$$ to keep having to pay every time someone wants extra cash.

I never got it over the air, but am sad for all the people losing it now.

We can't even get NBC over the air. We used to be able to, but after the digital transition, they changed the signal strength and we lost it (the station is not close to us, we couldn't get their analog signal, but got their old digital one. When they dropped the analog signal, they moved the digital to that channel, and so it is too low now).

We've had cable for the past 2 years, but are about to drop it again. I will miss figure skating, and the Olympics in general.

I don't "get" this at all. Why would Universal Sports (US) use Facebook to ask people to tell US that they don't want to be "dropped," meaning they want to watch US on a platform other than DirecTV? I guess the left hand within US doesn't know what the right hand is doing. *shrugs*

I don't "get" this at all. Why would Universal Sports (US) use Facebook to ask people to tell US that they don't want to be "dropped," meaning they want to watch US on a platform other than DirecTV? I guess the left hand within US doesn't know what the right hand is doing. *shrugs*

It would be really sleazy of US if this is a way of building a database of names to solicit subscribers for DirecTV.

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The Universal Sports website also has a button to click to fill out a form requesting that Universal Sports not be dropped. Just to be safe I'd suggest that people do that. It sounds like they're rearranging their coverage and some cable companies may drop it???? or something....

I'm dimwitted and do not understand. I only have US because I have cable, it isnt part of a free package.

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I never knew there were people who were able to watch it on free TV either. I have Universal Sports because it is part of my Time Warner basic cable package. I hope I will still have it come January 1st!

I'm dimwitted and do not understand. I only have US because I have cable, it isnt part of a free package.

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In the days before cable and satellite bills, people watched TV via broadcasts "over the air" from television stations in their area, for free. When DTV was introduced a few years ago, anyone who wanted to continue to receive those broadcasts had to get a converter box if they had older TVs that weren't DTV-ready.

Part of the DTV conversion was to add channels "between" the existing channels. The larger stations filled those extra channels with other programming, including UniSports. I know I've posted about the access since well before Vancouver, but it's gone now.

Example: NBC in New York was channel 4.1, NBC Mobile was 4.2, and Universal Sports was channel 4.4.

With the DirecTV implementation, Universal Sports is supposed to be removed from over-the-air broadcasts as well as cable providers and Dish network.